Machine for sizing and cleansing asparagus tips



Feb, 7 11950 F. A. BELLATQ 2,496,516

MACHINE FOR SIZING AND CLEANSING ASPARAGUS TIPS Filed Nov. 19, 1945 5Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. FRANK A. BELL/4T0.

Fm 7; mm

F. A. BELLATC) ZAQB 'SM MACHINE FOR SIZING AND CLEANSING ASPARAGUS TIPS5 $heets5heet 2 Filed NOV. 19, 1945 I INVENTOR. FRANK ABELLATO.

Feb. 7 195% I F. A. BELLATO 2A6,5116

MACHINE FOR SIZING AND CLEANSING ASPARAGUS TIPS Filed Nov. 3.9, 1945 3Sheets-Sheet 3 m a 5m INVENTOR.

FRANK A. BELL 4T0. BY

Patented Feb. 7, 1950 MACHINEfFOR'SIZING AND'CLEANSING'ASPA'RA'GUSYTIPS' FrankA. Bellato; I Stocktonz fialif., assignoc to IBartolomeorDel Carlo, Stocktong: Calif;

Application NOVcmber'1'9, 1945, Serial 'N0i629',444"

1 Claim; :(Cl. 136-82 Thisinvention relates to a machine-forpositioningand sizing asparagus: J

Asparagus; when cut and harvested in the-fields; r are of varying lengthand" in this-condition are broughtzinto the packing' plants' where theyare washed and cut'to a specified length;their-packed in crates to beshipped to the market, or theyare deliveredvdirectly to canneries-for-cooking-and canmngxThe'tip portion of the' aspar-agusis thetenderand edible portion andyaries in length" from four to six'inches-or more:"Theremaining" portion; of the asparagus' is' usually'tough'or stringy:

The methodused in packing plants is to place the aasparagus' on a fiat.beltewith ithettip 1 ends against a gage board which determinestheilengthitfi They. are :then cut. off aby a saw: The lengths" whichresults, depends upon how wvell the::opera.-;-

tors place the tips-in position: Inasmuch as the:

asparagus are handledSi-n bunches only a fewi-of them are cut on" to themaximum: allowed 'lengthis In other wordswhenlone or two ofthe-asparagustouch the gage board; the-bunch is dropped-and: most of theasparaguslarercutishorter than their; a

usable length. Some) packershireoperators to stand at the beltand-lpuSh-the asparagus against a the" gage board. However, :due tothe large amountof asparagus whichpasses. the operator, only a few aredetected andpositioned forcutting and the waste is accordinglyflveryconsiderable.

Another method used. by some .packersis to placethe asparagusinshipping'crates leaving the bottom of thecratesopen. Theprojectingvendsmare then cut; using the bottom edgelias atguidem.

A large knife to hand-cut a cratefull of asparagus.

the asparagus carefull'ylin thelcrate; The'lcontents of the crateisfinallysold by thelpound and the 'cost rises due to the'small.tonnagelso'ld per. acre packed. .Th fact that vall packers-usevthellsame methods keeps. thelmarket' competitive. and.

the' Wasteis passedon to thelconsumerhbylan.

increase in price.

Theflobject .of the] presenteinvention..is to eliminate wasteor throwingaway that edible portion. of asparagus which.- is cut .off when zthewasparagus is cut too short and further-more to obtain asparagus .of asubstantiallynuniform length; .to provide amachine-which islsimple inconstruction and operation -said machine receiv-hing. thev asparagus inbuncheseandesthe: machine causing the tip ends ofthe aspanagusein each;

:positioned verticallyl; "11

bunchwto 's-ett1eagainsta gage platerand to re-"wi main inthat-*position-until out 01f by a :saw; and; further, to provide amachine whichtis capable of continuous operation, large output -r and towhich asparagus is delivered in bunches'at one :2 endwof a continuouslymoving conveyonand as .r they-=travel-towards the 'dischargezxend ofthe. machina theitip ends of the-asparagus areauto-g matically broughtinto: engagement with vthe gage plate; then automatically cut to'uniforml length, and finally discharged One form' of machineithatmayibe employed is shown byway of illustration :in the accom'er'pan'ying drawings in-which: Figure-L is a" perspective view of a;container-x provided for then receptionzri of La bun'chw'of asparagus fFigurez is a-lplaniview of a=porti0n of a cone veyor-showingsthecontainer carried thereby and Figure 3 :is 'aavertical cross sectiontaken on lin v: 3-3 of-Figure2-;

Figure/l is a diagrammatic side elevation ofthe front or feeding end-iofthe machine;

'Figurefi' is a diagrammatic view forming a con-r? tinuation of Figure;and showing theirearor discharge endof the machine;

Figure. dis a. crosssection of a'conveyor showing :5 a container withitsicover open and in position to receive a bunch ofasparagus;

Figure :7 is a similanrsectionl showing the; asparagus: placed. withinthe containers. and the cover in closedzposition; A

FiguretS: is a-' similar section showing the. con-w tamer: swung tovertical position Figure v9-is a'similarcross section showing waterbeing: applie'dto Wash the asparagus; t.

Figure lfl is axsimilartsectionshowingthe containerrswungb'acktohorizontal position with the eover opengand also showing the position ofthe -:ticular1ywFig.' 1, A indicates in general a con tainerzrwhich; isprovide'dfor the purposei of receiving; holding:andipositioningna bunchof 'asparagustips sov that they may be passed through a sawand. cutttouniform lengths The container: 1-;

*comprisesacbottom p0rti0n2', a pair of side sec.-

tionsBe-G andan end section. 4 which..wi1l'hereinafterabe referred to asthe gage=plate, andxa cover sectioni which issecuredito the. endsections."

4 by Emeansof hingesfi. One end of thecover is opensas indicated at Landso is'the adjacentczl end 8 of the container. A false bottom section 9is secured within the container and spaced therefrom, and a false coverI is secured within the cover 5. The false cover section i0 is more orless V-shaped in cross section, while the false bottom section 9 may besaid to have the shape of a W and in addition thereto it has a crossslot II formed therein and aligning slots l2 are 7 formed in the sidesof the container to provide a be described. 1

a passage for a circular saw, as will hereinafter In actual practice aconsiderable number of containers of the type shown in Fig. 1 are em"-;,

ployed and they are supported and spaced apart on an endless conveyorsuch as diagrammatically and each pair of arms serves as a pivotalsupport for the container A. The pivots connecting the container andcross arms are shown at l5 (see Figs. 1, 2 and 3).

Continuous travel is imparted to the conveyor chains in any suitablemanner and during this travel each container will reach the loadingposition B where the cover is automatically opened to assume theposition shown in Figs. 1 and 6, or that indicated at B in Fig. 4. Thecover in each container is normally held in closed position by a pair offlexible latches 16-46 but as each container approaches the loadingposition B, a roller I I carried by the cover engages a cam track 18 andis thereby raised to open position.

An operator at this point places a bunch of asparagus in the containerwith the tip ends pointing towards the gage plate 4 (see Fig. 7). Noattempt is made by the operator to position the asparagus as this isaccomplished by machine operation. After the container has been loaded,that is while it is travelling, the cam track closes the cover and thecover is fully closed and sei cured by the latches 16-16 when theposition C is reached (see Fig. 4). At this point a pairof rollers l9l9secured to the bottom section .of

the container engage a cam track 20, and this I swings the containerabout the pivots l5l 5 from 1 9. horizontal position to a verticalposition with the open end of the container up and the gage. plate 4lowermost. This position is shown at D- in Fig. 4, and it is also shownin Figs. 3 and 8.

By referring to Figs. 2, 4 and 9, it will be noted tracks 2l2i is a pairof wave-shaped tracks 2525 (sec particularly Figs. 2 and 4) said tracksengaging a roller 26 secured to the gage plate 4 ofthecontainer. Thus asthe container in its vertical position leaves the cam track and engagesthe tracks 2 1-H and --25 a horizontal rocking or lateral movement willbe imparted to the container by the tracks 2525 about the pivots l5,...;and a vertical jolting movement is simultaneous- 1y imparted by thestep-like members 22, and as the asparagus previously placed in thecontainer is at this time in a generally vertical position pointingdownwardly toward the gage plate 4 (see Figs. 3 and 8), it is obviousthat the vertical jolting and lateral rocking movement imparted =13shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The conveyor illustrated in the present instancecomprises a pair of sprocket chains l3--l3 spaced apart horizontally.These chains carry pairs of cross arms 14-:

4 to the container will cause the asparagus to settle downwardly untilall of the tip ends engage the gage plate, as clearly shown in Fig. 3.

By the time the container reaches the point 24 5 (see Fig. 4) theasparagus will be settled and substantially all of the tip ends willcontact the gage plate 4. The container then continues to advance andifreference is now made to Fig. 5 which is a continuation of Fig. 4, itwill be noted that one of the rollers i8 engages track 20a which swingsthe container back to a horizontal position as indicated at E inFig. 5.After return to horif zontal position, the roller I! on the coverengages the cam track 28 and the cover is opened, and while in the open.position the container passes by a'circular saw29 (see Figs. 5 and 10).This saw passes through the slots II and I2 of the container and therebycuts off the butt or waste ends'of the asparagus. After this isaccomplished, the cam track portion shown at 28a closes the cover.v Therollers [9 again engage a cam track indicated at 30 and the container isnow swung about its pivots to a vertical position, that is with .theopen end pointing downwardly charged into a box such as shown at 3| oron to a conveyor, not shown. This dumping position is shown at F in Fig.5. Thetrack portion shown at 30a now returns the container to ahorizontal position as shown at G, and it remains in this position whilereturning to the loading point B where the cover is opened by the camtrack [8 and the cycle of operation is thus completed.

The machine not only serves the purpose of re- .;ceiving, holdinpositioning and cutting on the butt ends of asparagus, but it may alsoserve the purpose of washing the asparagus. This may beaccomplishedinany suitable manner, but as here shown a spray pipe isarranged above the tracks 2! and25 between the points 23 and 24. Thespray emitted by this pipe is directed downwardly they are being joltedvertically and rocked laterally and the water is drained oil? throughperforations 36 in the false cover and bottom sections asshown in Fig.1'. The final result due to the operation of the machine including thewashing operation is clean asparagus of uniform length and thesubstantial elimination of waste.

claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

horizontally, means for momentarily opening the cover to permit a bunchof asparagus to be placed infthe container with the tip ends pointing inone direction, means for closingjthe cover after insertion of theasparagus, a gage plate in the container adjacent the tip ends, meansfor changing the position of thecontainer from a horizontal to avertical position with the tip ends of the asparagus lowermost, meansfor simultaneously imparting a vertical and lateral jolting movementjoltin'gmovem'ent, means for returning the conas shown in Fig. 11. Theasparagus is thus disthrough the -open ends of the containers whileHaving thus described my invention, what I I In' a machine of .thecharacter described, an

to the container to cause the asparagus to settle until-the tip endscontact the gage plate, means for directing a spray of water downwardlyf through the asparagus to wash the same while they *are subjected to'the vertical and lateral" tainer to'a horizontal position, means forcutting oiithe projectingtbutt 'ends*of the' asparagus, 1

means for discharging the sized asparagus, and means for maintaining theconveyor in continuous movement while the foregoing operations aretaking place.

FRANK A. BELLATO.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

Number 6 UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Adams Mar. 31, 1914 Nielsen May8, 1923 G111 July 5, 1932 Bonvallet Feb. 26, 1935 Emmons et a1 Feb. 9,1943

